Word 2010 - Cannot edit embedded excel tables after closing document

Anonymous
2010-09-07T12:14:32+00:00

Hi folks

I recently upgraded from Office 2007 to Office 2010. My system is a acer 6593 laptop running Windows 7 Professional with 4GB ram (3GB usable by windows)

I have an issue with Word 2010 and embedded excel tables. I am able to create a word document and insert the excel table therein (using insert-> table -> excel speadsheet). I am also able to edit the table onc created, and manipulate it. However, as soon as I save and close the word document, I am no longer able to edit (or convert for that matter) the excel object.

The error message given is "The program used to create this object is Excel. That program is either not installed on your computer or it is not responding. To edit this object, install Excel or ensure that any dialog boxes in Excel are closed"

I have tried to completely repair and un-install office 2010, as well as running a cleanup tool to ensure the un-install was completely removed.

The created word document excel tables are editable in other people office 2007 installations. (there is no-one esle with office 2010 for me to try). so I am unsure whether it an issue with my specific office instalation or office 2010 in general.

As I say, the office 2007 trick of converting to a excel binary file does not work, giving an error massage*"the server application, source file, or item cannot be found. make sure the application is properly installed, and that is has not been deleted, moved, renamed, or blocked by policy".*

Also, although I cannot edit existing excel tables, I am able to add new ones to the word document and edit them, again until I save and close.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments No comments
Answer accepted by question author
Anonymous
2011-07-17T22:42:35+00:00

I was experiencing this issue in Word 2010.

I was able to fix it by disabling all COM Add-ins in Excel 2010. I only had the one add-in, another system on our network had multiple add-ins. (for instructions on disabling the add-ins see below)

Close word, and open a blank Excel worksheet. In Excel go to file>options>add-ins. Then down the bottom select COM Add-ins from the drop down menu and hit go. Uncheck everything hit ok. Close the options menu close Excel. Now open your word document and try to edit your embedded files. They should now work without a problem.

I make no promises, but this worked for me :)

Was this answer helpful?

300+ people found this answer helpful.
0 comments No comments

43 additional answers

Sort by: Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2010-11-04T22:15:35+00:00

    I am experiencing the same problem. I've already spend hours trying all kinds of solutions I've found on various forums (and this one), but nothing seems to help:

    • I've reinstalled Office 2010 Plus (multiple times already; cleaned up my registry, hidden directories,...)
    • I've disabled my Virus scanner (I'm using McAfee, not Norton)
    • Run in safe mode
    • Reregister ole32.dll

    I've done some further testing and it seems that all OLE functionality between Office 2010 products (PowerPoint, Word, Excel) doesn't work, but only for the Microsoft Office document types! The OpenDocument OLE functionality is still working. Adobe, Wordpad and other programs are also still working.

    I'm running Office 2010 Plus x86 on Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit with 16GB RAM (so plenty of memory available; another possible cause I've read somewhere).

    I've had Office 2010 Plus 64-bit installed previously, but due to incomaptibility issues with Add-ins in Outlook I switched back to the 32-bit version. May this have broken my OLE functionality in Office?

    Thx

    Kristof

    Was this answer helpful?

    1 person found this answer helpful.
    0 comments No comments
  2. Anonymous
    2010-11-12T16:33:58+00:00

    Hello Kristof Lievens,

    Have you attempted to try the suggestion provided by JimRMKE?

    Here is some additional information in the KB article linked below:

    PowerPivot: You cannot edit embedded Excel workbooks in Word when PowerPivot is enabled

    Thanks!


    Ashley

    Microsoft Answers Support Engineer

    Visit our Microsoft Answers Feedback Forum and let us know what you think

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments
  3. Anonymous
    2011-07-15T09:55:51+00:00

    This is also a problem i am experiencing.

    I have tried all methods and pointers in the replies above, but there is no difference to the result or some are not applicable.

    Office 2010 Professional v14.0.4760.1000 (32-bit) running on XP Professional 2002 SP3

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments
  4. Anonymous
    2011-07-30T10:42:51+00:00

    Thank you, this was exactly my problem and the solution to it.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments